By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos
Many years ago, I participated in the press corps accompanying then-President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias on a trip to Russia. I had known him for many years, and a certain familiarity and mutual sympathy had developed between us. So, I allowed myself, upon greeting him on the plane, to add my own comment: “Mr. President, we have a president—but we do not have democracy.”
Since then, I must admit, Greece has undoubtedly made progress. Not only has it abolished, in practice, the few remaining elements of a state—let alone a democracy—that it still retained twenty years ago, but it no longer even has a President. We have elsewhere discussed the “qualifications” of Mr. Tasoulas (https://www.defenddemocracy.press/america-first-the-life-and-times-of-the-new-president-of-the-hellenic-republic/).
Recently, Mr. Tasoulas refused to comply with the request made by Mr. Tsipras and, earlier, by Mrs. Konstantopoulou to release to the public the minutes of the meeting of Greek political party leaders held the day after the referendum. He invoked so-called “national reasons.” The concept of the nation has been chronically abused by our politicians to justify many—especially the most anti-national— of their filthy deeds. Among countless examples we could cite: Venizelos’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleftherios_Venizelos campaign in Ukraine against the Bolsheviks, the Asia Minor Campaign (ordered not by the Greek nation but rather by the British), which led to the Asia Minor Catastrophe; the decision, under orders from the British and American “nations”, to reject any compromise and instead pursue the annihilation of the massive, majority EAM-led national resistance National Liberation Front (Greece) – Wikipedia —the largest anti-Hitler resistance movement in occupied Europe relative to the country’s size and population. The price was devastating, especially morally, as Greece’s finest children—the most patriotic, who chose to fight the occupier rather than collaborate and become the overlords of “liberated” post-war Greece—were mercilessly exterminated. Greece still pays the heavy moral toll of this great crime against it, which triggered a colossal “negative social selection” whose consequences lie at the root of our current problems.
As for the characterization of the discussions at the Greek Presidential Mansion on July 6, 2015 as official secrets —another excuse Tasoulas used to withhold the minutes—this is yet another absurdity among the infinite ones our politicians hurl against our intelligence and dignity. Every foreign embassy and intelligence service knows very well what happened on July 6, 2015. The only one kept in the dark, at least regarding the details, is the Greek people, whose fate was sealed that day. Shouldn’t they finally learn what their supposed political representatives actually argued?
With his decision not to release the minutes, Mr. Tasoulas certainly wasn’t protecting any national secret. Besides, in Greece, no secret exists that—as revelations have shown—isn’t known at least by Israeli intelligence and the infamous Predator, likely by many others too. Almost no one in Greece’s typically gossipy political class, from the far left to the far right, seemed overly troubled by this fact—least of all Mr. Tasoulas, who now feigns concern for the nation’s secrets and interests! They might even enjoy being monitored, as it reassures their “protectors” of their abject subservience.
Eventually, excerpts of the infamous minutes were leaked by various media outlets. However, the official and complete text was never released. Instead, outlets engaged in a cut-and-paste frenzy of dubious accuracy, trading soundbites and nonsense to smear rivals and absolve themselves. The whole affair, like so many others in public life, devolved into an assault of gibberish by the political elite and oligarchic media owners against the Greek citizens’ intellect. The outcome? Nothing serious or substantive was said about the national and European tragedy of the Memoranda and Loans—a disaster for which all Greek political forces bear historical responsibility, along with the entire leadership of the “collective West” (Germany, EU, IMF, U.S.) and the architects of the scheme: the giant international banks like Lazard and Goldman Sachs, which experimented on Greece, the very birthplace of democracy, by socially devastating Europe’s oldest people and looting its state.
Of course, this is a profoundly serious issue that cannot be exhausted in this commentary. Given the opportunity and relevance, we will return to it.
Published in Kosmodromio.gr, translated from Greek by Christian Haccuria
